The Supreme Court has dismissed a plea filed by one of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, who has sought a review of its 2017 judgement upholding his death penalty.
“We find no grounds for review of the 2017 verdict,” the court said adding that review petition is not re-hearing of appeal over and over again.
Akshay Kumar Singh, along with three others, was sentenced to death for gang-rape, and murder of a young medical student in Delhi in 2012.
Nirbhaya’s mother, who was confident the petition would be rejected, said she was “very happy”.
After Chief Justice SA Bobde recused himself from the case on Tuesday, saying one of his relatives had represented Nirbhaya, a new bench comprising Justices R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and AS Bopanna was formed.
Akshay Singh’s lawyer AP Singh argued in the court that he deserved mercy as the “pressure to implicate him had been overlooked” and “real perpetrators” haven’t been caught.
The lawyer also claimed that the dying declaration of the woman was “doubtful and cannot be relied upon”.
The advocate told the court that the convict wants to approach the President of India and sought three weeks to file the mercy plea.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Delhi government, told the bench headed by Justice Banumathi that there are certain crimes where “humanity cries” and this is one of them.
“There are certain crimes where God would feel ashamed in not saving the child and in creating such a monster. The death penalty does not deserve to be set aside for such crimes,” Mehta said.
He also said that convicts in the Nirbhaya case are making concerted efforts to “delay the inevitable” and the law must take its own course as soon as possible.
After Mehta said that one week is the time prescribed to file mercy petition before the President, the bench said the petitioner can do the same within the stipulated time.
Advocate Singh had earlier told the court that the age of citizens in Delhi-NCR is reducing due to air and water pollution and there was no need to award death penalty to the his client.
Of the six accused in the case, four were convicted, while one of them committed suicide and a juvenile was released after three years in a reform home. The review petitions of the three other convicts were dismissed earlier.
The 23-year-old paramedic student was gang-raped and brutally assaulted on a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16, 2012, before being dumped on a road, naked and critically injured. She died on December 29 in Singapore.